Attacks on the Press in Ethiopia 1992-1996 1992 December 7 Lucy Hannan, BBC, harassed Hannan, a correspondent for BBC, was briefly detained and threatened with expulsion by Ethiopian security officials at the airport in Addis Ababa. Hannan had gone to the airport to interview a U. S. military officer on his way to Somalia. She…
Although the government claims the Press Proclamation abolished censorship, it in fact bans dissemination of information that the government deems dangerous to the society. Hence, the law is often used as a government tool for post-publication censorship and punitive prosecution. According to Art. 8 of the Proclamation, the news media may not publish: Information designated…
RECCOMENDATIONS TO THE ETHIOPIAN AND U.S GOVERNMENT CPJ is encouraged that, while at the end of last year 31 journalists were in prison in Ethiopia, only nine journalists remain in detention as this report is going to press. Of those nine journalists, one is nearing completion of an 18-month prison term, and the rest were…
After centuries of feudal rule, 17 years of communist dictatorship, almost three decades of civil war, and no tradition of an independent press before 1992, Ethiopia is at a crossroads. As one of the African continent’s youngest exercises in democracy, Ethiopia can serve as an example of a true democracy–one that does not sacrifice freedom…
Distribution of Print Media INDEPENDENT PUBLICATIONS Sales of private publications are concentrated in the capital, Addis Ababa. There is no organized distribution system in place. Newspapers and magazines are primarily sold on the streets by children who earn a subsistence living for their work, and, to a lesser extent, by independent contractors and newsstands. The…
Art. 8, Sec. 1 of the Press Proclamation grants the press “the right to seek, obtain and report news and information from any government source of news and information,” yet the private press continues to be denied access to government officials and their agencies. Moreover, independent journalists have been refused confirmation of information, or answers…
IN OCTOBER 1995, TESFAYE TEGEN, the editor of a weekly newspaper in Addis Ababa, made a very costly editorial decision. U.S.-backed insurgents who had toppled Soviet-backed dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam four years before had just held elections to legitimize their rule. Tesfaye’s* paper, Beza, ran cartoons lampooning members of the new government as a submissive…
Ethiopia’s independent journalists currently work under threat of prosecution from three separate areas of government: a poorly trained police force that sometimes operates independently of the public prosecutor’s office; an inexperienced, partisan judiciary operating in a severely backlogged court system; and overly sensitive government officials who are offended by public criticism of their actions. Journalists…
The Ethiopian government currently publishes four major newspapers and owns and controls all broadcast media. The primary challenge facing the state-run news outlets is a public perception of irrelevance and lack of objectivity. As one journalist who has worked for both the private press and the state media told CPJ, “The government press is not…